Jesse Chavez providing Oakland A's a boost out of bullpen

OAKLAND -- It seems that Jesse Chavez crossed a bridge back on June 13.

He was on his second tour of duty with the A's this season when he was asked to carry the team on his back for a while in what turned out to be an 18-inning, 3-2 win over the New York Yankees in Oakland.

A's manager Bob Melvin had gone through most of his bullpen when Hideki Okajima got in trouble in the 13th inning.

The Yankees opened with a double and a walk, and after Okajima got one out. Chavez was summoned from the bullpen.

His job? To keep the Yankees from scoring, because at that point of the game the A's offense had had just two base runners in the previous nine innings.

His reaction? To strike out Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells, keeping the game tied.

The Oakland Athletics' Jesse Chavez (60) pitches against the New York Yankees in their MLB game played at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, June 13, 2013. Chavez was the winning pitcher in the 18 inning game.(Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

Chavez went on to throw 5﻿2/3 scoreless innings that afternoon. He allowed one hit, two walks and retired the final 13 batters he faced before Nate Freiman delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 18th.

It was that game as much as any other that enabled Chavez to feel like he was finally part of the scene in Oakland.

He'd been up in the final weeks of the 2012 season but hadn't pitched much and hadn't been particularly effective. And he'd been up in April, but he hadn't been able to make a case as to why the A's should keep him around.

He's made his case now. Since being called up for a second time on May 10, Chavez has pitched in 10 games (20﻿2/3 innings) with a 1-1 record and a 1.74 ERA.

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Opponents are hitting just .151 off him in that stretch, and manager Bob Melvin is starting to go to him in more significant situations.

That's a major change for a journeyman starting pitcher who has been in the big leagues with Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Kansas City and Toronto before being purchased by the A's from the Blue Jays last Aug. 24.

"I'm starting to really get comfortable here," the 29-year-old right-hander said. "It's easier to go out on the mound and pitch when you also feel comfortable in the clubhouse. It's good to be loose and relaxed. They see my personality in the clubhouse now."

It wasn't always that way for Chavez.

Last year, after coming over from the Blue Jays, he first went to Sacramento, then got called up in September. Again in April after a good spring, he wasn't quite the pitcher he wanted to be.

Part of it was the fact that he'd been a starter in the minor leagues and now was being asked to be the long reliever if needed.

"This is the first time when I've been myself on the mound -- calm, not rattled by anything," he said. "Before this, I was trying to do too much. Instead of aggressively attacking the strike zone, I was nibbling. It was hurting me.

"I guess you could say I tried to do too well. Now I'm out there just letting the results happen. And it's working."

The A's have been so impressed by what they've seen that they sent Okajima out after the 18-inning game just so they would be able to keep Chavez around.

He wasn't able to throw for two days after that, but he made a positive impression.

In his next game back, Chavez gave up a homer to the first batter he saw, Nelson Cruz of Texas, and took the loss, but that's been the anomaly in what has been perhaps the best series of games in his career.

And with Sunday's demotion of Dan Straily to Triple-A Sacramento, the A's now don't have a fifth starter.

They can bring Straily back when he's needed on July 6, but as an option they have Chavez, who is used to starting and who is starting to make a difference with the A's.